Today’s Gospel: And they came to
Beth-sa'ida. And some people brought to him a blind man, and begged him to
touch him. 23 And he took the blind man
by the hand, and led him out of the village; and when he had spit on his eyes
and laid his hands upon him, he asked him, "Do you see anything?" 24 And he looked up and said,
"I see men; but they look like trees, walking." 25 Then again he laid his
hands upon his eyes; and he looked intently and was restored, and saw
everything clearly. 26 And he sent him away to
his home, saying, "Do not even enter the village." Mark 8:22-26
Reflection: (Read
this reflection along with that of Fri. 10th Feb. 2012) There are
two actions of Jesus in the gospel which are very prominent and stand out
starkly; the first one is that of leading the blind man out of the village by
the hand and the other is that of telling the healed blind man not to enter the
village.
Whatever
the reasons for such an action, could this action of Jesus be a prejudice or
abhorrence or disdain for the village of Bethsaida? In Mt. 11;21 and in Lk.
9:10 we find Jesus even cursing Bethsaida for refusing to believe.
We
often overlook the fact that God too rejects families and parishes and churches
and villages and towns, cities and nations for their unbelief and rejection of
the commands of God. We often wonder why
God does these things.
Some
of these actions of God are an absolute judgment, while the other milder
actions of God are judgments that invite the people to repent. God does punish and his punishments many a
time are supposed to be a curative and a timely warning for the individuals and
people to repent and turn to him.
The
task at hand is not easy; hence it is better to trust in the Lord rather than
on human wisdom.
Prayer: How
can a young man keep his way pure? By
guarding it according to thy word. With my whole heart I seek thee; let me not wander from thy commandments! Ps 119:9-10
DD = Dedicated Discipleship: Come grow in the Lord with us
No comments:
Post a Comment